February 27, 2025 • 32 mins
In this episode, we had the pleasure of hearing from Warner, one of L.A.’s most compassionate acting teachers. She shares her incredible journey from acting to teaching, her belief that there’s no such thing as competition, and the power of generosity in the industry. We saved this episode as the last in our series because Warner’s warmth and joy felt like speaking to a kindred spirit. Her words will stay with you as they did for us.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why there’s no such thing as competition.
- The importance of kindness in the industry.
- How to access the emotional depth of your character with every take.
- How to approach auditions with curiosity, not fear.
Want to work with Warner? We highly recommend it! Find her at www.warnerloughlin.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:11):
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi actor, here at Speak LA, the podcast,
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(00:32):
So our guest today really needs no introduction.
We are speaking with the great acting coach,
Warner Loughlin.
If you've spent any time as an actor
in Los Angeles, no doubt you have heard
all about Warner.
She coaches the stars, she coaches the up
-and-comers, she coaches the newbies.
She helps actors really connect to their characters.
(00:55):
She helps actors get the job, and even
more importantly, she's a really nice person.
So we are so excited to speak with
her today and to introduce her to you.
Let's go.
How old were you when you moved to
LA?
28.
(01:16):
Did you know anyone here?
Two people.
Wow.
And about how much money did you have?
$400 and a green change purse.
I thought, yes!
Where did you live when you first got
to LA?
Culver City.
Oh, me too!
What was your first job in LA?
(01:39):
I was a reader for a professor at
Cal State Northridge, and she was head of
the psychology department.
Ooh, that's more than one light year.
She was blind, so I was her reader.
Wow.
How many years did it take of you
living in LA before it felt like home?
(02:01):
Two.
Yeah.
And Warner, if you had to sum up
LA in one word, what would it be?
Opportunity.
Oh, that's good.
It is full of opportunity.
I love that.
Me too.
Yeah.
Warner!
Yay!
Welcome!
(02:21):
We are so happy to have you!
Yay!
I'm so happy to be with you guys.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you.
Oh my gosh, yeah.
Well, I'd love to jump in and just
hear just a quick introduction to kind of
how you became interested in this world, how
you got into this world.
Were you always an actor, teacher?
Tell us.
(02:42):
Tell us from the beginning.
I think when I was about two or
three, we lived in Iran.
My dad was a geologist and he was
working over there.
And, you know, it's all desert.
And we used to have these, you know,
those old projectors where you would pull the
screen down.
You had folding chairs.
And all I knew in my young, young
(03:04):
world was desert and literally camels.
So I would watch this world in amazement.
And I thought, I want to, I want
to, I want to do that.
And it just, it stuck.
It just stuck.
That's so interesting.
That's so cool.
So did you, but when you saw it,
did you want to, how did you, how
(03:26):
did you then become, how did you then
get to LA?
That's the question.
How did you get to LA from, from
like, you know, that dream?
From the dream.
Right.
And so I was raised after that in
Murphy, North Carolina, tiny little mountain town, population
2,235.
Wow.
Wow.
(03:47):
Right.
So small.
When I went to college, there was one
road in, one road out, kind of, you
know, I went to UNC Chapel Hill.
So, and, and after graduating days later, I
moved to New York and was like, here
I am.
This is what I'm going to do.
(04:08):
Right.
So I was an actress in New York
for a very long time.
And then one day I was in a
play that nobody understood, including the cast.
Seriously, it was a really bad play.
And I looked at the audience and there
was this expression of like, what?
(04:28):
The next day I went to my agent
and said, that's it.
I'm moving to LA.
And so I boxed up everything that would
fit in a UPS box, drove cross country
with, with two cats, a case of Campbell's
soup, a thermos and a hot plate.
Wow.
(04:49):
Yeah.
Did you, did you stay in hotels along
the way?
Did you camp?
Did you, what did you do?
Motel, motels, you know, and my dad was
like, call me every night, tell me where
you are.
So I would.
And you were all by yourself.
Well, there was another person with me.
Oh, sorry.
I missed that.
Okay.
So two of you jumped in a car
with their Campbell's soup and your cats and
(05:11):
drove across country.
Had you been to Los Angeles before?
Never, never.
Wow.
Got here, didn't kind of know where I
was.
I thought that my agency in New York
had a sister agency.
So I just called up and said, hi,
this is Warner Wafflin.
I've just moved from New York and I'd
love to come in for a meeting.
(05:32):
And they were like, okay.
So I go into this agency thinking, hey,
I'm here.
You have to take me, you know, just
by hook or crook.
They did.
It was later I found out, no, they're
not a sister agency.
Some of the agents know other agents and
that kind of thing.
But that was, you know, it's just one
(05:55):
thing about and I may be jumping you.
I'm so sorry.
No, don't jump in.
One thing when I first got to L
.A., I started working, just booking, booking, booking,
booking.
And then I started meeting people and they
were like, wow, it's really hard.
And I was like, really?
(06:15):
And I got in my head and thought,
oh, it's really hard.
I didn't work for a year after that
until I realized how I was psyching myself
out.
Wow.
Yeah.
That's so interesting.
I mean, I think that we just did
a recent podcast with a guest who talked
(06:36):
about one of the important things for an
actor to have is belief in themselves.
And yeah, no, go ahead.
It's huge.
It's huge.
And I think as actors, we all kind
of feel like I think there's a common
thing we have sometimes is less than sometimes.
(07:03):
I find that to be a common thing.
But if you think about it, we're all
unique, right?
There's no two people that are the same.
So what you're going to bring to a
role is quite different than what that other
girl is going to bring, even if you're
similar type kind of thing.
(07:25):
We've had so many actors say similar things
and so many successful actors on the show
come on and say that when they finally
started really booking was when they realized what
you just said, that what they needed to
bring to the table was the thing about
them that was unique.
I think that's what you're saying, essentially.
(07:47):
And I've seen a lot of actors say,
oh, I do this thing and I don't
want to do this thing.
I'll tell you who it was because I
don't think she'll mind.
I love Ashley.
She's such a love, just a sweetheart.
I've known her since she was young, young,
young, young, young.
She's still young, but you know what I
(08:08):
mean.
And she kept saying, I don't want to
do those things.
I said those Ashley-isms are what books
you in comedy, right?
Those isms that you have, you don't really
want to get rid of those.
Drama, a little different because you're creating a
character, you're embodying a whole different beast, right?
(08:30):
But there are no two of us that
are alike.
And we have different perspectives on the world,
right?
So we're going to create our characters with
some of our own perspective to a degree,
right?
It's funny that you're saying that because I
remember when I was in drama school and
(08:50):
one of the things that I used to
trip up on a lot was my voice.
I always got notes.
I had this S, this sibilant S.
And it drove me crazy because part of
the reason I had it is I grew
up speaking French.
So there was a little bit of a
language thing that I had just grown up
with.
And I couldn't figure out, it took me
(09:11):
a while to figure out where I was
coming from.
And I remember moving to LA and finally
realizing it didn't matter how I spoke.
How I spoke was exactly what made me
unique.
But it took me a very long time
because there was this sort of idea of,
(09:31):
you know, not even the actor voice because
that drives me bananas too.
I'm sure you know, you can talk about
that.
But I just, this thing about like I
had to change a part of who I
was rather than allowing myself to be who
I am and let the circumstances of the
text change who I am.
(09:52):
And that took me a while to figure
out.
100% right.
But it does take us a time because
we, don't you think that, I mean, you're
both actors.
Don't you think that we go, in the
beginning we go, what is it they want?
I want to give them what they want.
Yes.
Rather than creating a new, you know, creating
(10:14):
a character and going in, I always love
to say, we go in that audition room
to give something, not to get something back.
Not to get the role, not to get
the kudos, but we go in to give
them something like, I'm going to give you
my interpretation of this role.
(10:34):
And that, I think, is such a gift
too.
But you're so, you're 100% right that
we don't have to fit ourselves into a
mold of what we think we should be,
right?
Right, right.
And I think when you realize that, there's
a lot of freedom.
But I'd love to hear, because we're already
(10:56):
getting into actor technique and this is one
of the things I'm so excited to talk
with you about today, but from acting and
your years of acting, how then did you
transition into being, you know, this incredible teacher
that you are?
First of all, thank you so much.
That's so kind.
I think you have to put the actor
first.
(11:17):
Right?
The teacher can't be first.
Can't be about me.
Has to be about you.
Has to be.
I just love watching an actor fly.
It was my boat, even more so than
when I was acting and I would, you
know, get a good review or book a
job and be pleased with it.
(11:38):
When I see an actor rise like that,
it just floats my boat.
It was really by accident how I became
a teacher.
A manager friend of mine, we were just
friends.
He wasn't my manager, but we were good
friends and he asked me to lunch one
day.
I'm like, yes!
(11:59):
So we got a lunch and he said,
I have this client.
When you're acting, you're going to have so
much money you don't know what to do
with it.
Then you have none.
Then you have so much money, I'm going
to invite and then you have none.
It's this.
That's just the nature of the beast.
I was thrilled to get the lunch invitation.
(12:22):
But he goes, I have this client and
he gets so close to the job.
He gets that close, but he's not booking.
Can you coach him?
I went, I'm not a coach.
I'm an actor and I do something a
little different.
So, I don't know.
He goes, please, he can't afford coaches.
Please work with him.
I'm like, okay, but I don't want to
(12:45):
screw it up, right?
I work with the guy and then two
days later, I went back to this manager's
office because I had forgotten something there.
He's on the phone and he lifts his
finger and puts it on speakerphone and he
goes, tell me again what you said and
the casting director who I had just read
for the week before who the F coached
(13:10):
him.
I'm going to send that coach everybody I
know and I'm like, who the F coached
him?
I'm like, don't say it.
Because I didn't know if I tanked him
or if he tanked or I, right?
And he booked the job and that casting
(13:30):
director started sending me people and I would,
for like a year, I'm like, sure, come
on over, I'll help you.
People would just come to my house and
I would work with them until one day,
a casting director friend of mine said, I
heard you missed two auditions today.
(13:51):
I went, yeah.
And she says, why?
I said, because I promised these two actors
that I would help them and I'm not
going to not help them.
I can't do that.
I already gave my word.
Because your word is your honor, right?
She goes, you've got to make a decision.
(14:11):
You've got to make a decision whether you're
going to continue acting or if you're going
to be an acting teacher.
I wasn't even charging people.
I mean, I was just helping people.
But that's how it began.
That was the transition.
Wow.
That's pretty incredible.
Meant to be, it sounds like, for sure.
(14:31):
Will you tell us a little bit about
your technique and a little bit about the
way that you teach?
The technique is all imagination-based.
But we take from the text first and
we ask how was the character behaving and
in the face of what?
(14:53):
Because it gives us clues into that character's
life because every character has a life and
no matter what, even if we can relate
to that character, she isn't us because she
didn't grow up like we did in the
same household with the same siblings or the
same parents or whatnot.
This is a real nutshell here.
Of course.
(15:15):
Into her past perhaps because why?
So we start thinking about what in her
childhood caused her present day behavior and then
once we have several events that we think
might have happened in her childhood, now that's
an intellectual thing, right?
(15:36):
That's still very left brain.
Now we go right brain and we do
what I like to call emotional detail, which
is we're living those events as much as
humanly possible in our imagination according to that
which we imagine that we see, smell, touch,
hear, taste, feel so that we grow that
(15:57):
life up from age 4, 5 or 6
all the way up until present day behavior
and it allows you to go on set
and do a scene take after take after
take able to get to that emotion take
after take after take, which is super important.
I mean, we didn't have to do that
(16:18):
in theater, right?
We have to film in TV, so that's
just kind of it in a nutshell.
I love that.
I mean, it makes a lot of sense
because then it activates a whole physical life
as well, so you're living it.
(16:39):
It's starting to kind of trickle in all
the parts of your body, which I think
is something that a lot of actors struggle
with is that connection you have the text
and then you have that emotional life and
then the physicality, those kind of three components
and then a lot of times actors are
like, well, how do I get to that,
(16:59):
the depth of the emotion and also how
do I feel comfortable in my body as
I'm telling the story that I'm telling?
Exactly.
Sometimes there's a disconnect with I intellectually know
this but I don't feel it, right?
Yeah, and so emotional detail lets you feel
it and if you give yourself the freedom
on set to well, I'll just I'll just
(17:26):
it's a great example because I don't catch
children but there was this one she was
the child of a friend of mine and
she said, please will you work with her?
Well, of course I am.
And it was a pretty gnarly role, heavy,
deep psychological role and so I used to
say, I would do emotional detail with her
(17:46):
and I would say, okay, we're going to
put the shroud of the character, invisible blanket
of the character over you and near the
character but when we're done we're going to
take that off and you get to be
you.
And so she was quite adept at, okay
I'm her now and she, because it's play
pretend, right?
But it's important that we don't I was
(18:09):
previously a method actress which made it difficult
on set for me so, which is how
the technique came to be for a lot
of reasons.
I couldn't recreate an emotion using that technique
I couldn't do it take after take and
(18:32):
it would stay with me for months and
months and months if you're using your own
tragedies, you know?
Yeah, so that's how it came to be
but it's important to be able to let
it go and go into your own life
like you have a baby and you have
teenagers and it's important that we get to
(18:52):
go back to our real life and then
embrace our work Right, and not just sacrifice,
yeah it protects you, exactly So many actors
talk about, we hear so much about the
fierce competition of actors and especially when actors
(19:13):
are first starting out do you, what would
you say to somebody that, I'm sure you've
had these conversations with actors who say, do
I even stand a chance and is the
competition as fierce as I hear that it
is?
What do you think about that?
There is no competition There is not another
(19:34):
you They haven't seen you yet Don't even
think about the competition because it doesn't really
exist They're not you They're not you I
love listening to you Yeah, me too I
(19:54):
gotta ask you because this mindset stuff is
so mind-boggling for lack of a better
word to myself sometimes, but you seem to
embody it in just the coolest way Just
out of curiosity how, well I guess how
(20:16):
do you do that or is this something
that has always been kind of a vassal
for you because it's just so wonderful to
hear you talk and this is not something
that somebody would say if they didn't truly
believe How did you cultivate this kind of
a belief system as you were an actor
(20:36):
and then as you were a coach Is
this just who you are?
Can you bottle it up?
It might be who I am I'm not
sure I remember before I was a coach,
before I was coaching when I was still
auditioning and I was in the waiting room
where you've got 10-15 girls there and
(20:58):
there's this girl beside me who I didn't
know you know a lot of the girls
because you constantly go out with the same
kind of you get to know each other
if you really do take the time to
know each other, you find you have so
much in common and you have the same
(21:19):
problems in common or you have the same
struggles or you have, it's just nice that
you have a little community like that but
this girl I did not know and she's
just bawling she's crying and I looked at
her sides because she had them there, but
she's crying and it's a comedy Right I
(21:39):
looked at her sides and I knew what
she was reading for because I was reading
for the same role and so I kind
of hid my sighs and I said Are
you okay?
She's like this is my first audition in
LA and I'm really nervous and I'm like
well do you want to read it with
me and I'll maybe help you or with
(22:00):
it a little Sure, thanks and so I
coached her, right She's reading the same role
but she's not giving the same things I'm
giving because she's we're different, right but she
was doing a pretty decent job with it
and so go in I go in first
(22:23):
and I came out and she was like
You're reading for the same role?
I'm like I was trying literally trying to
help her not hurt her but I think
sometimes if we put I'm not saying put
everybody above yourself but I'm saying if we
can look for the kindness to help I
(22:50):
love that, well I think what you're talking
a lot about is faith, hope you know,
I mean there's never anything wrong with being
kind you're never going to go in a
bad direction by being kind and that faith
and hope it does move you through your
life and clearly for you it's moved you
(23:12):
in such an interesting direction it really kind
of got you to what seems like your
real purpose I'd love to know I
can see that I would love to know
(23:35):
if you were talking you've already said so
many phenomenal things but if you were talking
to an actor who's new to the business
someone who maybe just arrived in LA, New
York Chicago or any market really what would
you say to them?
Find the best acting class you can that
(23:58):
teaches you what you need to know in
whatever genre you want to work in like
if you want to be in theater, find
a really good theater class, if you want
to be in TV and film, find a
really good, because there are a lot of
classes in LA that kind of teach theater
(24:18):
and you need one that teaches television, film,
yes it's all acting but it's slightly different,
right?
So you need one that concentrates on that.
Secondly I think a class in which the
teacher puts you first and if that teacher
has, I like to say, an ego bigger
(24:39):
than the state of Texas, then run if
they ask you to do things that make
you feel uncomfortable, like I had a guy
audit class once and he goes I'm sorry,
do I have to get naked?
I'm like please don't, please don't get naked,
no, because it has nothing to do with
(25:00):
your craft so if they're asking you to
do things and toward things like that, that's
not the place, right?
Yeah, and also it's not just craft in
a good acting class, you'll meet people and
you'll learn things, you'll learn things from watching
them but you'll learn oh, this audition is
(25:22):
coming, this thing is being cast or because
in my classes people would go oh my
gosh, I just read for such and such
you'd be great for this role you know,
you find your own community like that I
think that's hugely important if you're just moving
into a city Yeah Community for sure Warner,
(25:44):
I have a question we hear a lot
from actors and I'm sure you've had this
conversation with actors too the challenge of feeling
stuck, the challenge of you know, so often
actors say you know, I've done this but
I can't get to this next level I
can't, I feel like I just don't know
how to jump to the next level whether
it's, you know, just starting out and you're
(26:05):
trying, you know, furiously to book your first
co-star or whether you can't make it
from co-star to guest star series regular,
you know, whatever you're trying to do and
you feel stuck in that place what do
you say when actors tell you they feel
that way?
I think we have to look at the
reasons that we're stuck we gotta go, what
do I need to change?
(26:26):
Is there something I need to change?
I'm not talking about within self, but is
it your agent is sending you out on
things that you are not gonna book I've
seen that hmm is it that you're thinking
that am I walking into an audition thinking
(26:49):
I've gotta get this role I've gotta book
this role rather than focusing on your craft
you know are you worried about being famous
rather than just being the best darn actor
you can be because I find when people
focus on craft a lot of that falls
into line also persistence persistence is a good
(27:13):
thing like I'm here I'm not giving up
I'm here, I'm gonna see it through it's
not a personal rejection when we don't get
a role it's just that we might not
fit into the ensemble you know we might
have dark hair and they need a blonde
because the rest of the family or whatever
that might be or we're too old, it
(27:35):
doesn't matter it's not a personal thing so
persistence I think is a big part of
it I like to think of it too
like you're picking up rocks and you pick
up a rock it's like no you pick
up another one, no you pick up another
one, no now we could think every rock
I pick up is a no but every
(27:57):
rock you pick up that says no you're
getting closer to a yes getting closer so
persistence is huge so what is for the
actor that's feeling like in that discouraging space
what is one tip you would give them
(28:17):
to do to get back into the persistence
of their dream of their career dream why
did you start this in the first place
the why, I love that get back to
play get back to joy in your craft
because when you see an actor walk in
(28:38):
with joy in their craft it's infectious you
can feel it casting can feel it you
can feel it in their tape reveling in
the joy of that character doing their craft
right yeah we are sadly almost out of
time I'd love to just review a couple
(28:59):
of the things you've said today because they've
meant so much to me I loved so
much what you said about approach this business
as coming to give something approach auditions as
what do I have to give, I love
that I love your thoughts about it's not
a competition that is so good I wish
(29:19):
you had been in my ear 25 years
ago getting in a class, if you're new
to town getting in a class, that's so
great focusing on our craft persistence focusing on
the why we hear that a lot from
our guests really getting clear on your why
and if you forget what your why was
(29:41):
going back to that and going back to
the play and the joy clearly what you
teach is all about you started by saying
it's about imagination and imagination is joy and
play, so I love all of that thank
you so much wisdom in such a short
time
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi actor, here at Speak LA, the podcast,
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(00:32):
So our guest today really needs no introduction.
We are speaking with the great acting coach,
Warner Loughlin.
If you've spent any time as an actor
in Los Angeles, no doubt you have heard
all about Warner.
She coaches the stars, she coaches the up
-and-comers, she coaches the newbies.
She helps actors really connect to their characters.
(00:55):
She helps actors get the job, and even
more importantly, she's a really nice person.
So we are so excited to speak with
her today and to introduce her to you.
Let's go.
How old were you when you moved to
LA?
28.
(01:16):
Did you know anyone here?
Two people.
Wow.
And about how much money did you have?
$400 and a green change purse.
I thought, yes!
Where did you live when you first got
to LA?
Culver City.
Oh, me too!
What was your first job in LA?
(01:39):
I was a reader for a professor at
Cal State Northridge, and she was head of
the psychology department.
Ooh, that's more than one light year.
She was blind, so I was her reader.
Wow.
How many years did it take of you
living in LA before it felt like home?
(02:01):
Two.
Yeah.
And Warner, if you had to sum up
LA in one word, what would it be?
Opportunity.
Oh, that's good.
It is full of opportunity.
I love that.
Me too.
Yeah.
Warner!
Yay!
Welcome!
(02:21):
We are so happy to have you!
Yay!
I'm so happy to be with you guys.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you.
Oh my gosh, yeah.
Well, I'd love to jump in and just
hear just a quick introduction to kind of
how you became interested in this world, how
you got into this world.
Were you always an actor, teacher?
Tell us.
(02:42):
Tell us from the beginning.
I think when I was about two or
three, we lived in Iran.
My dad was a geologist and he was
working over there.
And, you know, it's all desert.
And we used to have these, you know,
those old projectors where you would pull the
screen down.
You had folding chairs.
And all I knew in my young, young
(03:04):
world was desert and literally camels.
So I would watch this world in amazement.
And I thought, I want to, I want
to, I want to do that.
And it just, it stuck.
It just stuck.
That's so interesting.
That's so cool.
So did you, but when you saw it,
did you want to, how did you, how
(03:26):
did you then become, how did you then
get to LA?
That's the question.
How did you get to LA from, from
like, you know, that dream?
From the dream.
Right.
And so I was raised after that in
Murphy, North Carolina, tiny little mountain town, population
2,235.
Wow.
Wow.
(03:47):
Right.
So small.
When I went to college, there was one
road in, one road out, kind of, you
know, I went to UNC Chapel Hill.
So, and, and after graduating days later, I
moved to New York and was like, here
I am.
This is what I'm going to do.
(04:08):
Right.
So I was an actress in New York
for a very long time.
And then one day I was in a
play that nobody understood, including the cast.
Seriously, it was a really bad play.
And I looked at the audience and there
was this expression of like, what?
(04:28):
The next day I went to my agent
and said, that's it.
I'm moving to LA.
And so I boxed up everything that would
fit in a UPS box, drove cross country
with, with two cats, a case of Campbell's
soup, a thermos and a hot plate.
Wow.
(04:49):
Yeah.
Did you, did you stay in hotels along
the way?
Did you camp?
Did you, what did you do?
Motel, motels, you know, and my dad was
like, call me every night, tell me where
you are.
So I would.
And you were all by yourself.
Well, there was another person with me.
Oh, sorry.
I missed that.
Okay.
So two of you jumped in a car
with their Campbell's soup and your cats and
(05:11):
drove across country.
Had you been to Los Angeles before?
Never, never.
Wow.
Got here, didn't kind of know where I
was.
I thought that my agency in New York
had a sister agency.
So I just called up and said, hi,
this is Warner Wafflin.
I've just moved from New York and I'd
love to come in for a meeting.
(05:32):
And they were like, okay.
So I go into this agency thinking, hey,
I'm here.
You have to take me, you know, just
by hook or crook.
They did.
It was later I found out, no, they're
not a sister agency.
Some of the agents know other agents and
that kind of thing.
But that was, you know, it's just one
(05:55):
thing about and I may be jumping you.
I'm so sorry.
No, don't jump in.
One thing when I first got to L
.A., I started working, just booking, booking, booking,
booking.
And then I started meeting people and they
were like, wow, it's really hard.
And I was like, really?
(06:15):
And I got in my head and thought,
oh, it's really hard.
I didn't work for a year after that
until I realized how I was psyching myself
out.
Wow.
Yeah.
That's so interesting.
I mean, I think that we just did
a recent podcast with a guest who talked
(06:36):
about one of the important things for an
actor to have is belief in themselves.
And yeah, no, go ahead.
It's huge.
It's huge.
And I think as actors, we all kind
of feel like I think there's a common
thing we have sometimes is less than sometimes.
(07:03):
I find that to be a common thing.
But if you think about it, we're all
unique, right?
There's no two people that are the same.
So what you're going to bring to a
role is quite different than what that other
girl is going to bring, even if you're
similar type kind of thing.
(07:25):
We've had so many actors say similar things
and so many successful actors on the show
come on and say that when they finally
started really booking was when they realized what
you just said, that what they needed to
bring to the table was the thing about
them that was unique.
I think that's what you're saying, essentially.
(07:47):
And I've seen a lot of actors say,
oh, I do this thing and I don't
want to do this thing.
I'll tell you who it was because I
don't think she'll mind.
I love Ashley.
She's such a love, just a sweetheart.
I've known her since she was young, young,
young, young, young.
She's still young, but you know what I
(08:08):
mean.
And she kept saying, I don't want to
do those things.
I said those Ashley-isms are what books
you in comedy, right?
Those isms that you have, you don't really
want to get rid of those.
Drama, a little different because you're creating a
character, you're embodying a whole different beast, right?
(08:30):
But there are no two of us that
are alike.
And we have different perspectives on the world,
right?
So we're going to create our characters with
some of our own perspective to a degree,
right?
It's funny that you're saying that because I
remember when I was in drama school and
(08:50):
one of the things that I used to
trip up on a lot was my voice.
I always got notes.
I had this S, this sibilant S.
And it drove me crazy because part of
the reason I had it is I grew
up speaking French.
So there was a little bit of a
language thing that I had just grown up
with.
And I couldn't figure out, it took me
(09:11):
a while to figure out where I was
coming from.
And I remember moving to LA and finally
realizing it didn't matter how I spoke.
How I spoke was exactly what made me
unique.
But it took me a very long time
because there was this sort of idea of,
(09:31):
you know, not even the actor voice because
that drives me bananas too.
I'm sure you know, you can talk about
that.
But I just, this thing about like I
had to change a part of who I
was rather than allowing myself to be who
I am and let the circumstances of the
text change who I am.
(09:52):
And that took me a while to figure
out.
100% right.
But it does take us a time because
we, don't you think that, I mean, you're
both actors.
Don't you think that we go, in the
beginning we go, what is it they want?
I want to give them what they want.
Yes.
Rather than creating a new, you know, creating
(10:14):
a character and going in, I always love
to say, we go in that audition room
to give something, not to get something back.
Not to get the role, not to get
the kudos, but we go in to give
them something like, I'm going to give you
my interpretation of this role.
(10:34):
And that, I think, is such a gift
too.
But you're so, you're 100% right that
we don't have to fit ourselves into a
mold of what we think we should be,
right?
Right, right.
And I think when you realize that, there's
a lot of freedom.
But I'd love to hear, because we're already
(10:56):
getting into actor technique and this is one
of the things I'm so excited to talk
with you about today, but from acting and
your years of acting, how then did you
transition into being, you know, this incredible teacher
that you are?
First of all, thank you so much.
That's so kind.
I think you have to put the actor
first.
(11:17):
Right?
The teacher can't be first.
Can't be about me.
Has to be about you.
Has to be.
I just love watching an actor fly.
It was my boat, even more so than
when I was acting and I would, you
know, get a good review or book a
job and be pleased with it.
(11:38):
When I see an actor rise like that,
it just floats my boat.
It was really by accident how I became
a teacher.
A manager friend of mine, we were just
friends.
He wasn't my manager, but we were good
friends and he asked me to lunch one
day.
I'm like, yes!
(11:59):
So we got a lunch and he said,
I have this client.
When you're acting, you're going to have so
much money you don't know what to do
with it.
Then you have none.
Then you have so much money, I'm going
to invite and then you have none.
It's this.
That's just the nature of the beast.
I was thrilled to get the lunch invitation.
(12:22):
But he goes, I have this client and
he gets so close to the job.
He gets that close, but he's not booking.
Can you coach him?
I went, I'm not a coach.
I'm an actor and I do something a
little different.
So, I don't know.
He goes, please, he can't afford coaches.
Please work with him.
I'm like, okay, but I don't want to
(12:45):
screw it up, right?
I work with the guy and then two
days later, I went back to this manager's
office because I had forgotten something there.
He's on the phone and he lifts his
finger and puts it on speakerphone and he
goes, tell me again what you said and
the casting director who I had just read
for the week before who the F coached
(13:10):
him.
I'm going to send that coach everybody I
know and I'm like, who the F coached
him?
I'm like, don't say it.
Because I didn't know if I tanked him
or if he tanked or I, right?
And he booked the job and that casting
(13:30):
director started sending me people and I would,
for like a year, I'm like, sure, come
on over, I'll help you.
People would just come to my house and
I would work with them until one day,
a casting director friend of mine said, I
heard you missed two auditions today.
(13:51):
I went, yeah.
And she says, why?
I said, because I promised these two actors
that I would help them and I'm not
going to not help them.
I can't do that.
I already gave my word.
Because your word is your honor, right?
She goes, you've got to make a decision.
(14:11):
You've got to make a decision whether you're
going to continue acting or if you're going
to be an acting teacher.
I wasn't even charging people.
I mean, I was just helping people.
But that's how it began.
That was the transition.
Wow.
That's pretty incredible.
Meant to be, it sounds like, for sure.
(14:31):
Will you tell us a little bit about
your technique and a little bit about the
way that you teach?
The technique is all imagination-based.
But we take from the text first and
we ask how was the character behaving and
in the face of what?
(14:53):
Because it gives us clues into that character's
life because every character has a life and
no matter what, even if we can relate
to that character, she isn't us because she
didn't grow up like we did in the
same household with the same siblings or the
same parents or whatnot.
This is a real nutshell here.
Of course.
(15:15):
Into her past perhaps because why?
So we start thinking about what in her
childhood caused her present day behavior and then
once we have several events that we think
might have happened in her childhood, now that's
an intellectual thing, right?
(15:36):
That's still very left brain.
Now we go right brain and we do
what I like to call emotional detail, which
is we're living those events as much as
humanly possible in our imagination according to that
which we imagine that we see, smell, touch,
hear, taste, feel so that we grow that
(15:57):
life up from age 4, 5 or 6
all the way up until present day behavior
and it allows you to go on set
and do a scene take after take after
take able to get to that emotion take
after take after take, which is super important.
I mean, we didn't have to do that
(16:18):
in theater, right?
We have to film in TV, so that's
just kind of it in a nutshell.
I love that.
I mean, it makes a lot of sense
because then it activates a whole physical life
as well, so you're living it.
(16:39):
It's starting to kind of trickle in all
the parts of your body, which I think
is something that a lot of actors struggle
with is that connection you have the text
and then you have that emotional life and
then the physicality, those kind of three components
and then a lot of times actors are
like, well, how do I get to that,
(16:59):
the depth of the emotion and also how
do I feel comfortable in my body as
I'm telling the story that I'm telling?
Exactly.
Sometimes there's a disconnect with I intellectually know
this but I don't feel it, right?
Yeah, and so emotional detail lets you feel
it and if you give yourself the freedom
on set to well, I'll just I'll just
(17:26):
it's a great example because I don't catch
children but there was this one she was
the child of a friend of mine and
she said, please will you work with her?
Well, of course I am.
And it was a pretty gnarly role, heavy,
deep psychological role and so I used to
say, I would do emotional detail with her
(17:46):
and I would say, okay, we're going to
put the shroud of the character, invisible blanket
of the character over you and near the
character but when we're done we're going to
take that off and you get to be
you.
And so she was quite adept at, okay
I'm her now and she, because it's play
pretend, right?
But it's important that we don't I was
(18:09):
previously a method actress which made it difficult
on set for me so, which is how
the technique came to be for a lot
of reasons.
I couldn't recreate an emotion using that technique
I couldn't do it take after take and
(18:32):
it would stay with me for months and
months and months if you're using your own
tragedies, you know?
Yeah, so that's how it came to be
but it's important to be able to let
it go and go into your own life
like you have a baby and you have
teenagers and it's important that we get to
(18:52):
go back to our real life and then
embrace our work Right, and not just sacrifice,
yeah it protects you, exactly So many actors
talk about, we hear so much about the
fierce competition of actors and especially when actors
(19:13):
are first starting out do you, what would
you say to somebody that, I'm sure you've
had these conversations with actors who say, do
I even stand a chance and is the
competition as fierce as I hear that it
is?
What do you think about that?
There is no competition There is not another
(19:34):
you They haven't seen you yet Don't even
think about the competition because it doesn't really
exist They're not you They're not you I
love listening to you Yeah, me too I
(19:54):
gotta ask you because this mindset stuff is
so mind-boggling for lack of a better
word to myself sometimes, but you seem to
embody it in just the coolest way Just
out of curiosity how, well I guess how
(20:16):
do you do that or is this something
that has always been kind of a vassal
for you because it's just so wonderful to
hear you talk and this is not something
that somebody would say if they didn't truly
believe How did you cultivate this kind of
a belief system as you were an actor
(20:36):
and then as you were a coach Is
this just who you are?
Can you bottle it up?
It might be who I am I'm not
sure I remember before I was a coach,
before I was coaching when I was still
auditioning and I was in the waiting room
where you've got 10-15 girls there and
(20:58):
there's this girl beside me who I didn't
know you know a lot of the girls
because you constantly go out with the same
kind of you get to know each other
if you really do take the time to
know each other, you find you have so
much in common and you have the same
(21:19):
problems in common or you have the same
struggles or you have, it's just nice that
you have a little community like that but
this girl I did not know and she's
just bawling she's crying and I looked at
her sides because she had them there, but
she's crying and it's a comedy Right I
(21:39):
looked at her sides and I knew what
she was reading for because I was reading
for the same role and so I kind
of hid my sighs and I said Are
you okay?
She's like this is my first audition in
LA and I'm really nervous and I'm like
well do you want to read it with
me and I'll maybe help you or with
(22:00):
it a little Sure, thanks and so I
coached her, right She's reading the same role
but she's not giving the same things I'm
giving because she's we're different, right but she
was doing a pretty decent job with it
and so go in I go in first
(22:23):
and I came out and she was like
You're reading for the same role?
I'm like I was trying literally trying to
help her not hurt her but I think
sometimes if we put I'm not saying put
everybody above yourself but I'm saying if we
can look for the kindness to help I
(22:50):
love that, well I think what you're talking
a lot about is faith, hope you know,
I mean there's never anything wrong with being
kind you're never going to go in a
bad direction by being kind and that faith
and hope it does move you through your
life and clearly for you it's moved you
(23:12):
in such an interesting direction it really kind
of got you to what seems like your
real purpose I'd love to know I
can see that I would love to know
(23:35):
if you were talking you've already said so
many phenomenal things but if you were talking
to an actor who's new to the business
someone who maybe just arrived in LA, New
York Chicago or any market really what would
you say to them?
Find the best acting class you can that
(23:58):
teaches you what you need to know in
whatever genre you want to work in like
if you want to be in theater, find
a really good theater class, if you want
to be in TV and film, find a
really good, because there are a lot of
classes in LA that kind of teach theater
(24:18):
and you need one that teaches television, film,
yes it's all acting but it's slightly different,
right?
So you need one that concentrates on that.
Secondly I think a class in which the
teacher puts you first and if that teacher
has, I like to say, an ego bigger
(24:39):
than the state of Texas, then run if
they ask you to do things that make
you feel uncomfortable, like I had a guy
audit class once and he goes I'm sorry,
do I have to get naked?
I'm like please don't, please don't get naked,
no, because it has nothing to do with
(25:00):
your craft so if they're asking you to
do things and toward things like that, that's
not the place, right?
Yeah, and also it's not just craft in
a good acting class, you'll meet people and
you'll learn things, you'll learn things from watching
them but you'll learn oh, this audition is
(25:22):
coming, this thing is being cast or because
in my classes people would go oh my
gosh, I just read for such and such
you'd be great for this role you know,
you find your own community like that I
think that's hugely important if you're just moving
into a city Yeah Community for sure Warner,
(25:44):
I have a question we hear a lot
from actors and I'm sure you've had this
conversation with actors too the challenge of feeling
stuck, the challenge of you know, so often
actors say you know, I've done this but
I can't get to this next level I
can't, I feel like I just don't know
how to jump to the next level whether
it's, you know, just starting out and you're
(26:05):
trying, you know, furiously to book your first
co-star or whether you can't make it
from co-star to guest star series regular,
you know, whatever you're trying to do and
you feel stuck in that place what do
you say when actors tell you they feel
that way?
I think we have to look at the
reasons that we're stuck we gotta go, what
do I need to change?
(26:26):
Is there something I need to change?
I'm not talking about within self, but is
it your agent is sending you out on
things that you are not gonna book I've
seen that hmm is it that you're thinking
that am I walking into an audition thinking
(26:49):
I've gotta get this role I've gotta book
this role rather than focusing on your craft
you know are you worried about being famous
rather than just being the best darn actor
you can be because I find when people
focus on craft a lot of that falls
into line also persistence persistence is a good
(27:13):
thing like I'm here I'm not giving up
I'm here, I'm gonna see it through it's
not a personal rejection when we don't get
a role it's just that we might not
fit into the ensemble you know we might
have dark hair and they need a blonde
because the rest of the family or whatever
that might be or we're too old, it
(27:35):
doesn't matter it's not a personal thing so
persistence I think is a big part of
it I like to think of it too
like you're picking up rocks and you pick
up a rock it's like no you pick
up another one, no you pick up another
one, no now we could think every rock
I pick up is a no but every
(27:57):
rock you pick up that says no you're
getting closer to a yes getting closer so
persistence is huge so what is for the
actor that's feeling like in that discouraging space
what is one tip you would give them
(28:17):
to do to get back into the persistence
of their dream of their career dream why
did you start this in the first place
the why, I love that get back to
play get back to joy in your craft
because when you see an actor walk in
(28:38):
with joy in their craft it's infectious you
can feel it casting can feel it you
can feel it in their tape reveling in
the joy of that character doing their craft
right yeah we are sadly almost out of
time I'd love to just review a couple
(28:59):
of the things you've said today because they've
meant so much to me I loved so
much what you said about approach this business
as coming to give something approach auditions as
what do I have to give, I love
that I love your thoughts about it's not
a competition that is so good I wish
(29:19):
you had been in my ear 25 years
ago getting in a class, if you're new
to town getting in a class, that's so
great focusing on our craft persistence focusing on
the why we hear that a lot from
our guests really getting clear on your why
and if you forget what your why was
(29:41):
going back to that and going back to
the play and the joy clearly what you
teach is all about you started by saying
it's about imagination and imagination is joy and
play, so I love all of that thank
you so much wisdom in such a short
time
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